Lubricating device



Sept. 29, 1936. A. Y. Do ma 2,055,601

LUBRICATING DEVICE Filed Sept. 17, 1931 [a a INVENTOR.

A TTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 29, 1 936 urureo s mres PA I'E NT OFFICE 8 Claims.(01.184-105) This invention relates to lubrication devices and moreparticularly to librication fittings for bearings which are to belubricated.

One of the objects-of the invention is to provide a new and improvedfitting capable of being manufactured at relatively small cost and atthe same time capable of operating efficiently under all usualconditions.

Further objects will be apparent after reading the subjoinedspecification and claims and after consideration of the accompanyingdrawm Figure 1 is a view in section of a fitting illustrating my.invention;

Figure 2 is another view in section of said fiting taken substantiallyon the line II'II of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view in section of another form of fitting; I

' Figure 4 is a view in section of the fitting shown in Figure 3, takensubstantially on the line IV--IV of said figure;

Figure 5 is a central section of a modified form of fitting; and V Fig.6 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of the fitting shown inFigure 3. Referring particularly to the drawing, I have shown in Figurel a fitting generally designated 5 formed with a ball head 6, a reducedneck 1,

a hexagonal wrench receiving portion 8, and a threaded shank 9.Thefitting is formed with three concentric bores of different diameters.The bore II in the outer part of the head 6 has the smallest diameter;the bore l2 extending downward through the greater part of the head 6,and through the neck I, has a slightly larger diameter; and the bore l3extending throughout the shank portion 9 and the wrench receivingportion 8 has the largest diameter. Between the bores II and I2 there isformed an annular sloping shoulder M and between the bores l2 and I 3there is formed an annularsloping shoulder l5. Positioned within theconcentric bores is a valve member it normally held in the positionshown by a conical spring H, the base of said spring resting upon a seatformed by a plurality of upset or sheared portions such as those shownat l8, l9 and 20. V V The valve member !6 preferably is formed 50 fromwire or bar stock having fiat sides.- 7 As shown most clearly in Figure2 the main part 2| of the valve is of square section and as shown in'Figure 1 this main part 2| is provided with oppositely extendingprojections 22 and 23. The 55. projections 22- and 23 are exactly alikeand are of round cross section considerably smaller than the crosssection of the main body portion 2|. Intermediate the projections 22 and23 and the main portion 2| beveled portions 24 and 25, respectively areformed. Thus the valve member 16 is exactly symmetrical and is thereforereversible so that either end may be dropped into the fittingbody'andthe cost of assembling it in the fitting is made relatively low.The reduced round portion 22-may serve either as a guide for the upperend of the valve, aiding to maintain the valve in position by itsmovement within the bore l I, or as a guide for the apex of the springll. The beveled portion 24 may serve as a valve coacting with thesloping shoulder l4 or may serve as a seat for the apex end of thespring l1. By the use of'fi'atsided wire or bar stock of proper size, itmay be seen that the corners (which are preferably smoothed off orrounded) of the main portion of the valve contact with the sides of 'thebore, thus effectively guiding the valve within the bore; and at thesame time allowing the passage of lubricant past the fiat sides withoutrequiring any additional operations upon the 'valveor' fitting toprovide guides for the valve or to provide grooves for the passage oflubricant. Incidentally; a slightly smaller quantity of metal is'required than would be necessary were'the valve made of round wire of adiameter equaling the diameter of the bore l2, machined down to propersize for operation in the fitting casing.

As stated above, the valve 16' preferably is made from wire or bar stockhaving fiat sides but the'stock may be triangular in cross'section,hexagonal in cross section, or have any other suitable number of sides;It may be easily machined to the proper shape in an automatic screw'machine with very'little shaving of metal, thussaving in the" cost ofreplacements of cutting tools. The casing or body of the fitting mayalso be formed on anautomatic screw machine, the exterior being formedby shaving operations,- an'd'the interiorby drilling, both the exteriorand the interior being formed with one single handling of the fitting bythe machine.

I'pr'efer to assemble the parts of the fitting inthfollowingmanner. Thevalve I6 is inse'rt'ed' through the large bore l3 and thereafter thespring I! is also inserted through said bore, allowing the base thereofto protrude a short distance out of said fitting. The fitting is thensuitably held, as in a'die, and a press having a diameter substantiallycorresponding to the diameter of the bore i3, but having suitably shapedprojections spaced around-it'for forming the sheared portions or springretaining lugs l8, l9

7 and 20, moves into contact with the outer end of thespring, pushing itdown until it is flush with the outer end of the shank 9 and thenupsetting portions of the fitting body to form the portions or lugs it,wand 26. The sheared portions themselves in bending'and shearing areinterposed between the press and the spring, thus contacting withthe'lower end of the spring H,

and compressing it to the position shown in Figure 1.

"In liigure 3 I have shown a modified form of fitting but havedesignated like parts by like 7 15 reference numerals. The fitting hasan outer casing or body generally designated 5 and a spring ll. However,the valve member itself differs from the .valve member l6. Like "thevalvememberlfi it may be formed fromfiat sided wire or bar stock,butthis stock must be relatively larger than the stock required for theformation of the valve member It, the fitting bores being of the samesize. Moreover, though two of the fittings shown and described have thisfeature in common, yet I do notdesire that my invention shall beunderstood to belimitedto a i fiat sided valve inasmuch as importantfeatures of .the invention are aswell applicable-to round valves. .Inthe 'form used for illustration (as may be seen most clearly in Figure4) the valve 'member has a. mainportion 3! which is square in shape withthecorners smoothed ofi. This portion may, if desired, be four-sided orsquare, as

shown, three-sided or triangular, or of any other shape having fiatsides, or as stated'above, may

evenbe round in cross section. The exterior of themain portion 3icorresponds normally to the exterior of the wire or bar stock fromwhichthe valve member is-formed. On one side of the main portion 3! the.valve'member has been reduced to a roundedprojection or stem 32 whichs'ervesas a guide for the upper part of the spring .11. On' the otherside of the main portion 3|,

1 thevalve member is formed with a beveled face 33 which extends betweensaid main portion and an elongated stem or projection 34 of reduced androundedcross section. The stem 34 extends throughout thefbore l2 andinto the bore H and serves as a guide for positioning the valvewithinouter end of the stem .34 does not completely fillthe bore l I, a smallclearance being provided for purposes which will be later described;This 1 clearance need not be very large. For instance,

assuming that 'the'ball head has a diameter of 1 approximately 0.25inch, the diameter of the valve stem may be of the order of 0.060 inch,and' the diameter of the bore may be of the order 'of 0.063 inch. Theend of the stem should I: be. rounded asgat 35 on a radius and from acenter correspondingto the radius. and center of the ball head a. 1

l; The angleof the annular sloping shoulder l5, does not correspondexactly to the angle offthe beveled face 33. As shown, the beveled face33 makesa larger angle with the axis of the fitting than theannularshoulderl5. I prefer to form the'beveled-face 33 so that it makes anangle sloping shoulder l5.

and 3M, and a spring Ila.

with the axisof the valve of about 48 degrees and so to form the annularshoulder l5 that it makes an angle of about 43 degrees. It may beclearly seen that by this arrangement a line contact is provided bymeans of which is it possible to obtain a more perfect seat and it ispossible more surely to prevent the escape of lubricant past the valve.By reason of the line contact the two coacting valve parts may bepressed more firmly together and any film of oil squeezed out. Asstated, I prefer to make the angle of the beveled face 33 larger thanthe angle of the However, if desired, the angle of the sloping shoulderI5 could be made larger than the'angle of the beveled face 33,

and a line contact obtained at the junction of the sloping shoulder l5and the bore I2.

But by reason of the line contact adjacent to the large bore 13, afurther important object is accomplished. As stated, the end of the stem34 does not completely fill the bore H. Therefore, when the lubricantunder pressure is sup: plied to the fitting it acts on the roundedsurface 35 to push the valve down against the spring ll and also goes inthrough the clearance provided and acts on the beveled face 33. Inasmuchas the surface of the latter is much larger than the surface of therounded end 35, a much greater hydraulic pressure is brought to bear onthe valve and against the spring and thus the valve is more quickly andmore positively opened. Inasmuch as the line contact illustrated exposesa larger surface of the beveled face 33 to the action of the lubricantunder pressure than would be exposed by a line contact at the junctionof the sloping shoulder l5 and the bore l2, it may be understood why Iprefer to have the angle of the sloping shoulder l5 smaller than theangle of the beveled face 33 especially when provided in combinationwith the feature of the clearance provided in the bore 1 I I Theshoulder M between the bores H and [2 forms an angle with the axis ofthe fitting of approximately 20 degrees and I have found that this angleassures the best performance. The angle may be decreased (with slightdisadvantages) to 15 degrees and may be increased (also with slightdisadvantages) to 40 degrees. Beyond these limits, however, the fittingoperates poorly. If the angle is increased too greatly, a too largemovement of the valve member becomes necessary in order to open thevalve sufiiciently to allow the passage of an adequate amount oflubricant. If the angle is increased too greatly, the end 35 tends tocatch on the shoulder and the valve tends to stick open, especially whenit becomes relatively dry.

As may be seen most clearly in Figures 4 and 6, the corners of themainportion 3| are smoothed off as at36 in order to prevent scoring of thecasing in the bore I5. 7 The lower end of the stem 32 is chamfered as at3? in order to aid in the insertion of the spring ll.

,In Figure 5 I have shown a portion of a fitting very similar tothefitting shown in Figures 3, 4 and 6. Thereina casing having a reducedneck portion la, a wrench receiving portion 8a., and a plurality ofconcentric bores, such as Ma and 13a, is provided. Positioned in thebores is a valve member having a beveled surface 33a i5a and'havingoppositely extending stems 32a The body portion 3M, however, is roundinstead of fiat sided and has a diameter. sufliciently small thatadequate egossgeoi spaceirfon the passage of 'lubrieant is provided between said; main body portion 31a and the cir cumferenceoi' the bore meThe sloping showder 15w is preferably formed so that itmake's an angleof" about 43 degrees 'with the" axis-of the valve and the-beveledsurface 33a" is preferably formed so that it makes ari angle of about48- cle grees with said axis of the valve. Thus there'is provided a?line contact similar to that which is provided irrthe'fi ttingshown. inFigured. How ever, it is to be noted that the slopin'g shoulder i511extends clearto' theoiitlines of the bore 3a and thus it-ispossible toarrange-the line con tact nearer to thejunctiori of theslopin'gshoulderl5a with the bore We and at the very edge of-the bevel'ed surface 33a.To accomplish this desirable object it is necessary that the severalparts have proper relative dimensions. For instance, in a fitting havinga ball head with a radius of 0.250 inch, I prefer to form the bore IZawith a diameter of approximately 0.081 inch, and the bore 13a with adiameter of 0.187 inch. It has been found preferable to have thedistance between the planes A--A and BB approximately 0.395 inch and Iprefer to form the valve member so that the distance between the outerend of the stem and the plane C-C is approximately 0.380 inch. Thus thedistance between 3-3 and CC (when the valve is in its normal closedposition) or in other words the distance measured along the axis of thefitting from the plane of the junction between the sloping shoulder andthe large bore to the line contact of the valve is approximately 0.015inch.

It is to be understood that the above described embodiments are for thepurpose of illustration only, and various changes may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

.1. A lubrication fitting comprising a casing formed with a plurality ofbores, an annular shoulder between two of the bores, said annularshoulder making an angle with the axis of the fitting of approximately43 degrees, and a valve member positioned in one of said bores andhaving a reduced stem extending through another of said bores to thesurface of the casing and having a beveled surface to cooperate withsaid shoulder and having the bevel formed at an angle of approximately48 degrees with the axis of the fitting thereby to provide an annularline contact of relatively large diameter between said shoulder and saidvalve.

2. A lubrication fitting comprising a casing formed with a pair ofconcentric bores of diflerent diameters and with an annular shoulderformed between said bores, said shoulder making an acute angle with theaxis of the fitting; and a valve member positioned within one of saidbores and having a reduced stem extending through another of said boresto the surface of the casing and having a beveled surface, a part ofwhich is adapted to contact with the annular shoulder; said beveledsurface making an acute angle with the axis of the fitting slightlylarger than the acute angle made by said annular shoulder thereby toprovide an annular line contact of relatively large diameter betweensaid shoulder and said valve.

3. A lubrication fitting comprising a casing formed with a pair ofconcentric bores of different diameters and having a sloping shoulderbetween said bores; a valve member positioned in one of said boreshaving a pair of oppositely projections: one of which extends througlithe other of said bores to. the'surface of the easing-f and having a*beveled surface circu lar in outline, a part of which is adapted tocontact with a part of" said shoulder; and a l spring bearing upon saidvalve" member; said annular shoulder making an-angle with the axis ofth'e'fitting of approximately 43 degrees, and saidbeveled surface makingan angle with the axis of the: fittingof approximately 48 degreesthereby to provide an annular line contact of relativelylargediameter'between said shoulder and said valve.

4: A lifbricatiini fitting comprising a casing formed-wither? smallbore, with a bore of intermediate diameter concentric with said smallbore-wan a-bore of large diameter concentric with said small boreand'said bore of intermediate diameter, and with annular shouldersbetween said bore of small diameter and said bore of intermediatediameter and between said bore of intermediate diameter and said bore oflarge diameter; and a valve member positioned in said bores comprising amain body portion formed with a beveled surface cooperating with thelast named annular shoulder, and having an outwardly projecting stemextending from said main body portion through said bore of intermediatediameter and said bore of small diameter to the surface of the casing;the diameter of said stem being slightly smaller than the diameter ofsaid small bore, the first named annular shoulder making a relativelysmall angle with the axis of the fitting, and the angle made by saidbeveled surface with the axis of the fitting being slightly larger thanthe angle made by said last named annular shoulder with the axis of thefitting.

5. A lubrication fitting comprising a casing formed with a concentricbore of relatively small diameter and a concentric bore of relativelylarge diameter; a valve member for said casing provided with a stem,said stem extending into said small bore and having a diametercorresponding approximately to the diameter of said small bore butslightly smaller than said diameter of said small bore so that aclearance is provided for the passage of small quantities of lubricantinto said large bore.

6. In a lubrication fitting, a casing comprising a body portion having aball head, a reduced neck portion, a hexagonal wrench receiving portion,a threaded shank portion, and formed with three concentric bores ofdifierent diameters, the junction between the bore of largest diameterand the bore of intermediate diameter being formed with a sloping valveseat; a valve member positioned within said bores, said valve memberbeing formed with a fiat sided body positioned in said bore of largestdiameter and a beveled surface forming a greater angle with the axis ofthe bores than the angle formed by the valve seat and normally restingupon said beveled valve seat, an elongated stem of reduced round crosssection extending through said bore of intermediate diameter and intosaid bore of small diameter, and a short stem, also of round crosssection formed on the opposite side of said flat sided body; and aspring mounted in said bore of large diameter and having one endencircling said short stem and resting against said flat sided portion.

7. A lubricant receiving fitting comprising, a casing having a nozzlecontacting surface, said casing being formed with a bore of relativelylarge :diameter and a. coaxial? concentric 1 lubrie cant :conductingpassageway, isaid' passageway terminating in a portion ofreduceddiameter in said contacting :surface, and. a valve member insaidcasing'bore, saidrvalve beingyformed'with afstemr having a diameter:approximating the diameter of I said reduced-portions of said pas?sageway. but ;.slightly;small er and extending 7 through saidpassagewayto the outer surfaceof said casing thereby. to provide aclearance between the portion of reduced diameter of the pas,

' sageway forthepassage of, lubricant into the casing. V

8. A lubricant receiving fitting comprising a casing having a nozzlecontacting surface, said casing being formedwith a passagewaytherethrough one end of-which terminates inian inlet lar clearancespace'between the stem and the wall of said orifice through whichlubricant under pressure may be admitted into the passageway.

' ADIEL Y. DODGE.

